Boomers health: Tasty remedies

Danielle Braff

Wednesday

Apr 20, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 20, 2011 at 8:19 PM

Boost your immune system with chocolate, or strengthen your bones with tomatoes.

Chocolate for your health

If you have digestive problems and find yourself frequently getting sick, try eating chocolate with probiotics. Drinking a daily mug of high-flavanol hot chocolate will boost your immune system and keep you regular, a recent British study found. Get the Attune bar or Maramor Chocolates with probiotics for the benefits.

A tomato a day

Eating tomatoes will reduce the risk of having your bones break down, according to a study at the University of Toronto. They found that women who ate 30 to 70 milligrams of lycopene each day – found in about ½ cup of tomato sauce – were able to significantly strengthen their bones.

Reduce the risk

You may be able to avoid diabetes by making simple lifestyle changes. The American Diabetes Association finds that people with pre-diabetes can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 58 percent with regular exercise and by losing weight.

Take a picture

Your camera may be filled with snaps of your grandchildren or pets, but you may want to consider adding a few pictures of food, too, according to a recent study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They found that dieters who took pictures of everything they ate made healthier food choices because they were able to think about what they ate while taking the pictures and viewing them later.

Boost your energy

Feeling sluggish and tired? Taking a walk is probably the last thing you feel like doing, but a study from the University of Georgia in Athens finds that sedentary people felt 20 percent less tired when they started getting regular exercise. Start off by walking for 30 minutes a day, three days a week, then start picking up the pace when you get comfortable.

See your doc

Many women assume they can stop going to their gynecologists after they’ve hit menopause, but a new report from the CDC finds that late-stage cervical cancer is often found in women older than 50. That’s because they tend to frequently skip their annual pap tests. If you’ve had three normal paps in a row, you can start going to the doctor every three years instead of annually.

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